Ray's following message sounded so interesting, I went to the Newsweekwebsite to see if I could find the story, and I did. For others, who maybe interested, you can go to http://www.msnbc.com/news/433442.asp#BODY toread the full text of Music on the Mind by Sharon Begley. At the site youalso can click on an audio interview with Begley and listen to a9,000-yer-old Chinese bone flute. ;->

Page 50 of the July 24 issue of Newsweek has an article on music, the mind,and math.

"This year, Shaw reported that music can help bridge a socioeconomic gap.He compared second graders in inner-city Los Angeles to forth and fifthgraders in more affluent Orange County, Calif. After a year of piano, thesecond graders who received twice-a-week piano training in school scored aswell as the forth graders who did not; half of the {LA} second gradersscored as well as {the Orange County} fifth graders."